St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-01-30
spector, and Days school library bill, which
must now lay over until Monday.
FREEDOM OF TRAFFIC,
President Sill and GEN, Barrett
Have IL WOrdy Set-tO Over Hixsonss


FIRE EDOM OF TRAFFIC.
President Hill and GEN, Barrett
| Have WOrdy Set-tO Over RixsOn.s
| Bill.
| Freedom of traffic was discussed very
freely by Gen. Barrett, of Grant county,
the champion of the Farmers alliance, and
President j. j. Hill, of the Manitoba rail
way, Yesterday afternoon before a meeting
| OF the senate committee on railroads.
Among the interested audience were eX-
Representative Charles Canning. of Ada
county, vice president of the Farmers ALI
ance, ana Erlck Olson, of Martin county, q
| prominent member of the executive COM
mittee of the Farmers alliance. and at
rather late stage Of the talk Ignatius Don
nelly came in and calmly selected seat
| opposite Mr.. Hill. Apparently the Lion
and the lamb" were each loath to show anv
! hostility, so MIR. Donnelly sat calmly mute,
lingering bundle of papers, which he
finally consigned to his safest pocket. On
this particular occasion Gen. Barrett was the
lion and Mr.. Hill was content to be the lamb,
withal very cunning one. Senator Hix-
| sons bill was the topic. Its provisions are:
Railroads in Minnesota must provide ample
| facilities for transferring cars from one track
| to another joining, crossing, or intersecting
| tract, railroads to receive and transport
! freight at reasonable rates, over such routes
| as the shipper shall direct, carload lots to be
| transferred FROM track to track without I'M
| loading from the cars in which such ship
| ments were first made. Refusal or neglect of
railroad officials to do accordingly is made q
| misdemeanor subject to fine of from 81. 900
| to $4,000 for the first otfense. and for every
| subsequent otfeuse from $1,000 to $4,000 or
| Imprisonment in the state Denitcntiary for o.
| %
| one year; and for refusal or neglect 70 COIN
| ply with the provisions of the bill the railway
| company to be fined not less than 5000 nor
| more than $4,000 for the first offense, not
| less than $40, 600 for the second otfense, and
| Tor Tue third oHenSe its charter is to be for
| telted. County attorneys are to institute and
| carry on proceedings in the name and ut the
| expense of the state, proceedings to be in
stituted upon information to the county at
torney, or Indictment of the grand jury, and
all fines accruing from the enforcement of
| such law are to go to the benefit of the
state school fund
! The long and short Of it is that railroads
are to be required to furnish cars over any
| other road. as the shipper may direct, and
| this is just what Mr.. Hill objects to. He
contends that the state has not the power
| to compel one railroad TO lend its cars to
| another, nor to compel the other to accept
| the cars, and appealing to Senator Com
| stock, chairman of the senate Judiciary
committee, who was present. he was in
formed that the bill is contrary to section
13 Of the bill of rights of the state constitu-
| ton, which says the state shall not take
private property for public use without Just
compensation therefor.
But it was question of markets with
| Gen. Barrett-Whather Minnesota grain
| should 90 to Duluth or to Chicago. and
| whether the producer should have the bene-
| tit OF cheap rates for the short distance to
| Duinth or eXtortionate ones for the long
route to Chicago. This was why he wanted
| freedom of traffic and freedom of transfer,
| the Minnesota people to get the benefit, Du-
| luth to become the
GREAT RECEIVING POINT
and the lakes to become the established
| shipping route. At present, Gen. Barrett
| said. the consumer in his locality paws S.
more per thousand feet for lumber simply
because the lumber must be shipped around
by the way of Minneapolis. He argued
! that the proposed transfer system was abb
Solutely necessary.
/ Mr.. Hill explained that it would be impossi-
BILE to compel two roads to become partners
in business, or to make each consent without
useless and endless litigation to have the cars
OF one sent over the tracks of the other. No
railroad in the state, ne said, had rates so
cheap as the Manitoba.
| Senator Hixsou recalled the time when in
| Iowa he shipped wheat at IL cents per bushel.
| Now he ships wheat at IS cents per bushel for
| a shorter distance.
| Gen. Barrett had been of the opinion that
! the Manitoba, Northern Pacific and Duluth
/ roads would favor the bill, but he had antici-
I pated opposition from the Milwaukee road.
| He thought it was folly for Minnesota farmers
| to ship millions of bushels of wheat from 400
| to 6O0 miles to Chicago when the same wheat
can be shipped only; 200 miles TO Lake Supe-
| rlor. He argued that the state pays unneces-
| sarily 10 cents for every bushel Of wheat sold;
that the state paid 5000, 600 for the privilege
OF sending wheat TO Chicago instead of
| Duluth.
Mr.. Hill explained that the rate now was
| I-lO. He could produce an abstract of
wheat carried from every station,
which showed that for over 5000, 0GC
| bushels Of wheat the Manitoba road received
SS25.0OQ. He represented road which had
the same capital stock, $40, 600, 600, as it mad
| five years ago. although it has now 1000
miles of railroad, and then it had only 600
| miles. This capital stock is the ownership OF
| the road, and each stakeholder gets divi-
| dend of per cent. Five years ago when he
| assumed control of the road, at the first meet
| ing it was decided TO
CUT DOWN THE DIVIDEND
| from to per cent. According to the report
| OF the railroad commissioners, the Manitoba
road has given to the people ST. 500. 600 in five
years in reduced rates Those figures were
| facts, and no man could alter them. The
| stockholders Of the Manitoba did not receive
cent more now tnan five years ago. He ex
| planned what was the primary reason for Civ
| ing reduced rates to grain-more tons of it are
shipped, occupying less bulk. Men shipping
or receiving buggies did rot object to being
charged for twice as much weight as the
buggy really weighed, for the reason that the
buggy occupied the same bolk as twice its
weight in something more solid Since the
Manitoba people didn't get cent more than
| five years ago, the only question now was
| how TO best serve the interests of the public.
Gen. Barrett-Oo you best serve the inter-
| ests Of the public by running wheat to Chicago
| instead of Duluth?
Mr.. Hill-We are fighting that, too.
Senator Durant wanted the discussion
confined to the bill. Mr.. Hill was asked to